Workshop Report
Multilingualism, translation, communication and literacy
Moderator: Marcel Diki-Kidiri, Senior Researcher, National Centre for Linguistic Research, CNRS,
France
Rapporteur: Mauro Rosi, Programme Specialist, UNESCO, Creative Industries for Development
Section, Manager of the UNESCO Intersectoral Platform for Languages and Multilingualism.
Participants:
• Antony Hsu, Corporate advisor, Yanasa Co. Ltd.
• Vigdis Finnbogadottir, former President, Republic of Iceland, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador
for Languages
• Gregory Kamwendo, Associate Professor of Language Education and Head of the
Department of Languages and Social Sciences Education, University of Botswana
• Yoshiki Mikami, Professor of Management and Information Systems Engineering and
Coordinator of the Language Observatory Project, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
• Ashu Marasinghe, Associate Professor, Ngaoka Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Key remarks
1. The participants in this session and workshop had to comment on apparently heterogeneous
aspects of languages life (health, new technologies, media, translation and interpretation) that may be
considered, to some extent, technical and marginal in respect to what it is sometimes thought to be the
heart of languages policy, i.e. endangered languages, literacy and education.
2. Yet the discussion showed that those apparently less important aspects are central in daily life and
essential to every human being existence. Using the Internet, going to the hospital, combating
diseases, or discussing common business matters are indeed daily practices whose success is also
linked to proper language strategies and policy. The good management of all those situations is
strategic to sustainable development.
3. It was stressed that languages are not a specialized matter reserved to language planners and
linguists. As claimed by UNESCO’s slogan for the International Year of Languages “Languages
matter!”. This means that they are relevant for all human and development issues, and in particular
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strategic to MDGs .
4. As a consequence, another point underlined during workshop 1 was that there is nothing as a core
and periphery, a heart and a margin, an essence and a redundancy, a structure and a superstructure
in languages policy. Publishing textbooks is a condition for promoting literacy, regional vehicular
languages are strategically as essential as safeguarding endangered languages, Internet access or
technical interpretation is paramount as primary school multilingualism, and financing is, in the
implementation of languages policy, crucial as linguistics analysis: a holistic approach where every
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“Languages (…) constitute a strategic factor of progress towards sustainable development and a harmonious relationship
between the global and the local context. They are of utmost importance in achieving the six goals of education for all (EFA) and
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on which the United Nations agreed in 2000” (Koïchiro Matsuura, Message on the
celebration of 2008, International Year of Languages – Nov 2007).
single part is as important as the whole is necessary. Given the importance of investments required, it
was said that the mapping of possible financing sources and mechanisms is an ultimate priority.
5. Given the multiplicity of fields and levels concerned, effective languages policy cannot but be multistakeholders based. Different ministers (from education to culture, from trade to professional training),
different civil society groups (from languages associations to readers clubs) and a variety of
professionals in public and private bodies (teachers, literacy experts and planners, publishers,
lawyers, interpreters, technical and scientific translators) are or must be on board in this process.
6. It was also stressed that a multilingual society is not necessarily a context where everybody speaks
all useful languages, but a place where communication is effective beyond languages barriers thanks
to a variety of means and resources, including human and technical interpretation and translation
resources.
Recommendations
1. Every language policy should follow a holistic approach, take into account all possible aspects of
social interaction, including technical and practical ones and aim to impact on all social interaction
places (school, administration, parliament, justice, market, enterprises, financing bodies hospitals,
media, cyberspace and software engineering, sport and entertainment, charity, cultural institutions,
publishing, television cinema, advertisement etc).
2. UNESCO, regional governmental bodies (like ACALAN 2 , Maaya 3 , Council of Europe, and European
Commission) and national governments are invited to organize or further develop democratic forums,
consultation initiatives and frameworks that facilitate transversal participation of public opinion,
research actors, public institutions, private partners, civil society, market actors and professionals.
3. Special initiatives should be taken in favour of interpreters and translators associations at national
level (by governments), regional level (by institutions like ACALAN, Maaya, Council of Europe,
European Commission) or globally (UNESCO).
4. Language policy monitoring tools (observatories, reports and statistics), should be created or further
supported and developed at national, regional and global level, also focusing on linguistic aspects of
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pertinent existing UNESCO and UN standard-setting instruments .
5. Languages safeguarding should be accompanied by modernization, namely through terminology
development.
6. As a priority for international institutions and UNESCO, possible sources able to finance should be
mapped and publicized.
7. Language learning and teaching, at whatever level, both in public and private schools, should be
also encouraged as a resource and a means to better understand the world through communication
and engagement.
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African Academy of Languages
World Network for Linguistic Diversity
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Main standard setting tools: UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and its Action Plan (2001)
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)
Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Mutilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace (2003)
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)
UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966),
UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992)
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).